All the way until the end: Eagles block Bulldogs in overtime to remain undefeated

Published: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 at 01:03 AM.

MEBANE — Whatever the feeling was, Eastern Alamance senior Kyle Knodel knew he had to cover the far side of the goal in the waning seconds of overtime against Williams High School.

Good instincts.

Knodel blocked a shot from Williams’ Griffin Self that was headed for the net with about 15 seconds left to preserve a 3-2 victory for Eastern Alamance in Mid-State 3-A Conference boys’ soccer action Monday night.

“Griffin dribbled past a couple players and just something told me to go ahead and jump in the other end of the goal. It was the best feeling ever,” Knodel said. “It felt great, but it would have been a complete letdown if they would have scored.”

But it wasn’t without doubt until the clock ran out in the overtime frame.

“I’ll tell you, my heart had already dropped,” Eastern Alamance coach Jason Speicher said of Knodel’s block. “I thought we were going to end this in a 3-3 tie and it’s going to be our third tie of the season.”

MEBANE — Whatever the feeling was, Eastern Alamance senior Kyle Knodel knew he had to cover the far side of the goal in the waning seconds of overtime against Williams High School.

Good instincts.

Knodel blocked a shot from Williams’ Griffin Self that was headed for the net with about 15 seconds left to preserve a 3-2 victory for Eastern Alamance in Mid-State 3-A Conference boys’ soccer action Monday night.

“Griffin dribbled past a couple players and just something told me to go ahead and jump in the other end of the goal. It was the best feeling ever,” Knodel said. “It felt great, but it would have been a complete letdown if they would have scored.”

But it wasn’t without doubt until the clock ran out in the overtime frame.

“I’ll tell you, my heart had already dropped,” Eastern Alamance coach Jason Speicher said of Knodel’s block. “I thought we were going to end this in a 3-3 tie and it’s going to be our third tie of the season.”

The feeling was mutual across the field with Williams coach Jeremy Krist.

“I was getting ready to celebrate, everybody over here was kind of, I think in celebration mode,” Krist said. “And then Kyle Knodel comes out of nowhere, what a player he is.”

The last-second ending made perfect sense in a back-and-forth game played in front of a passionate crowd at Eastern Alamance.

The home team took the lead with eight minutes left in the first half when Austin Albright scored a header off a corner kick by Zach Griffin. That lead stood until Williams (6-5-1, 3-2) scored with 26:44 remaining in the second half, when Self laced a ball to the top left corner of the goal past goalkeeper Erik Fenton.

Knodel answered 10 minutes later, firing low and to the right, under Williams goalkeeper Christian Marban. Williams had another answer, knotting the game again with 8:42 left on a score from Ben Lowe.

But it was Knodel’s goal on a penalty kick in the first overtime period that sent the Eagles to the lead, one they held for the last 15 minutes of extra time.

The penalty kick came after Knodel dribbled and weaved way into the Bulldogs’ box.

“I just thought of scoring and trying to be selfish and try to score, be that main guy,” Knodel said. “I actually got tripped up over there. (I was) pretty nervous when I hit that PK, pretty excited about that also.”

And Knodel wasn’t the only one who made a game-saving play in the second overtime period.

With about five minutes left, the Bulldogs’ Josue Roman worked free into the middle of the Eastern Alamance box and put full force into a header toward the goal.

But Fenton was in perfect position, snatching the would-be tying goal and saving the lead.

“Honestly, I was in the right position at the right time, because it was a solid header. I was right in front of him,” Fenton said. “They did a good job of defending and they left him and the only option was right at me. I couldn’t ask for a better outcome.”

Krist said his team would be able to work with a lot of good things from the game.

“I think even though we lose, we take a lot out of this,” Krist said of the game. “We’re a bit beat up and kind of riding the storm at the moment. They’re a well-coached and a pretty good team. To do what we did (Monday night), we’ll take a lot of positives.”